Novembe
News
iirsday, November 15, 2001
THE BATTALION
Page 3B
-/Sunday meteor shower
xpected to be best yet
Raining diamonds
This Sunday, Nov. 18, the Earth will pass through three
streams of cosmic dust.left by an orbiting comet. North
Americans may see a two-hour burst of Iights as particles
burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The Leonids meteor
display starts at about 5 a.m. EST, or 2 a.m. PST.
...4' v .,
Year of —
^P) — Brew some coffee,
kck the lawn chairs. Astronomers
let this year’s Leonids meteor
|ay, expected to appear before
Sunday, will be a dazzler worth
ling a little sleep.
■It’s now or never,” said Robert
I'e of the Astronomy Society of
’acific. “Astronomers don’t think
1 see another storm like this one
the year 2099. We will probably
ir see a better meteor shower in
lifetimes.”
(very year, scientists fly to places
Ihe Gobi Desert or Canary Islands
latch the heavens rain fire for a few
iites in November. This year,
li’s alignment suggests that North
trica will be squarely beneath
of the most vigorous shooting
Pacific Islands and the Far East
[see natural fireworks, too.
[he most optimistic celestial fore
call for a steady storm of 4,000
tors per hour, or about 70 per
minute around 5 a.m. EST Sunday.
With clear skies, luck and the bonus
of a nearly moonless night, people in
some locations could see twice that.
The Leonids are dust particles
shed by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Like a
truck barreling down a dirt road, the
comet trails a cloud of dust as it orbits
the sun once every 33 years.
The meteors are called Leonids
because they appear to radiate from
the constellation Leo, the Lion. A
really big meteor is equal to a grain
of rice.
Earth usually crosses a thin section
of the Leonids trail; perhaps 10 mete
ors per hour streak across the night sky.
When the comet sweeps close to
the sun, the sun’s heat causes it to
shed more debris like a truck hitting a
mud puddle. Earth gets splattered
when it plows though the thick wake.
It occurs every November for a few
years until the particles dissipate.
In 1966, observers couldn’t count
the shooting stars fast enough.
Estimates ranged as high as 150,000
per hour.
Comet Tempel-Tuttle most recent
ly passed close to the sun in February
1998, and since then, in the words of
forecaster Joe Rao, the Leonids have
“gone berserk.”
While meteor displays thrill ama
teur stargazers, they also hold scien
tific promise. Comets are hurtling
balls of ice and debris left over from
the birth of the solar system more
than 4 billion years ago.
The particles contain basic ele
ments like iron, as well as carbon-
based molecules. Some scientists
believe this is how Earth was seeded
with organic compounds.
“The chemical precursors to life
— found in comet dust — may well
have survived a plunge into early
Earth’s atmosphere,” said NASA sci
entist Peter Jenniskens, who directs
airborne surveys of the Leonids.
Year of
comet’s
* orbit ,
Showers are visible
when Earth passes
through remnants of. .'* r’
comet Tempel-
Tuttle’s progress. -
Streaks across the sky
Meteors, or the particles
blown off a comet, are
minuscule, typically the size
of a pin head. Traveling at
speeds over 150,000 miles per
hour, meteors burn brightly
as they generate friction in
our atmosphere, producing a
gas trail that appears as a
streak of light.
in ; '
., ?, . * V.’i
; *-im*. v," «
i
: 1
Rings of cosmic dust
The comet probably consists
of dust and ice. As the cofne^‘ ; -?\
nears the sun, iCe melts and
minuscule particles are shed
in a cloud that trails the comet
along ttf&jjpjt-'V oMT/- ‘ -
PPSfii
On Sunday, Earth will
pass through the meteor
streams from 1767, 1699
and 1866.
J; ;0he Orbit ever^ 33, years
*V‘ - fhe;<S!Jmet’s orbit extendtet V “'
beyond Uranus, which is T-8
billion miles from the Sun.
Sun
Earth’s orbit
Tempel-Tuttle’s orbit
Uranus’ orbit
m
SOURCES: Dr. Tony Phillips, NASA: The Aerospace Corp.; The American Meteor Society
>r forward Brian E
ll-Stars Wednesfe
anacK againsi
as everyone
was on the floor
minutes. A&M
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want to get ev
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have nights wbe
guys are set
said.
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|N ATE
Continued from Page 1A
accused the Pro Traditions
ilion of ramming through
Sponsible legislation.
Pearson said that the
envhelming majority of
fctors that supported the
isolution indicated that the
tnkte was speaking for the
ptclent body.
[I’m appalled at Jackman
nuating that people who
d for the resolution are of
l(|wer caliber than those who
osed it,” Pearson said,
at’s low and irresponsible,
on our badv/i® hi s personal attacks have
. i can t desoibe ■^\ ace j n this debate.”
in our p a\m J|^ t \ e( j n esday's meeting,
!- u 1 ,ni Wporters tried a different tac-
the conf traH I” bnn S lhe resolution to
ould avoid f' ■* 1 oor
th Division l^vin Capps, a senate otti-
wouldn’l 10 1 an d sophomore history
the standi®,to i | j or - said that with a two-
11 have a toP Ns vote, the senate could
underdogs intW puss and vote on the bill dur-
trastate rival, , Jug open session, which is usu-
jused as a time for senators
piscuss comments and ideas,
fter the senate voted 37 to
to discuss and vote on the
jolution, debate began again.
j“Two weeks ago, we
ught the Bonfire 2002
|tion Resolution to the floor,
as hotly debated and dis-
sed and there were a lot of
gs that it went through and
lassed 39 to 13,” Capps said,
ope that our feelings have
J changed. We have been
in. Evervdf >ugh a lot in order to § et il
fthis point were we can speak
behalf of the student body.
I fk need to make sure that
se in the administration
w what the students want.”
■e fo 7^^l| Arguments made a g ainst
resolution were made
ause some senators were
jicerned about the safety of
fire 2002.
My number one concern is
ty. You and I want Bonfire
eturn in 2002, but the fact
ains that 12 students died. I
rented to the authors of this
lution today my concern
r safety and it was not
luded or amended into the
d &
c the Month
ence Life
mndl
[elution. This is why I voted
inst the resolution last time,
loes not mean that I do not
port Bonfire because I
Jieve that [safety] should be
®fii top priority,” Senator
ek Mercer, a sophomore
itical science major, said.
(After an extended debate
iod ended, the resolution
sed with a vote of 38-13
one abstention.
)1 Aggipland is |I n other business, a new bus
)ook, go to the Pte was proposed to the
Bed McDonald Indent Senate in the West
ur Student ID. Pmpus Bus Route Bill,
ist year's Texas Jhator Daniel Pearson, who
e 2000-2001 whored the bill, said that a
purchase one Is route, called Wehner
n 015 Reed Wpress, could be created by
D a.m. to 4:30 Ps Operations to take stu-
i Friday. Cash, Bnts from the Memorial
lard, Discover Student Center and Fish Pond
iccepted. ■ectly to Wehner via
■liversity Drive and then back
^to the MSC again.
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